Morose
by Icka M. Chif
Summary: 3 scenes that may or may not be related. Final scene: Hakuba and Akako as a question is asked.
1. Aoko finds out

Morose  
By Icka! M. Chif  
  
Scene #1: Aoko finds out  
  
"It won't be the same after this, you know." There was no track of mockery in Akako's quiet tone as she approached the sitting thief. They were on the roof of a skyscraper, both magic users showing an oblivious distain for the drop below.  
  
The Kid didn't move from his perch, his feet dangling off the edge of the roof. "Aa." He commented non-commentally.  
  
She daintily sat down next to him, setting her scythe down behind her. "Aoko?"  
  
He motioned in the vague direction of the park in front of them. "Thinking."  
  
"Bad habit."  
  
"Yup."  
  
"How'd she take it?"  
  
The thief shrugged. "Better than I expected."  
  
"That bad..." She murmured to herself, slightly awed.  
  
"Definitely her father's daughter." He shifted, tucking one knee up so he could rest his arm on it. "Learned a few new words today that I didn't think she knew."  
  
An eyebrow arched elegantly. "You may refrain yourself from teaching them to me."  
  
"Of course, Miss Witch." He said, almost, but not quite mockingly. "Some things you do not repeat in front of a lady anyway."  
  
She crossed her legs, propping her chin up on an arm, her elbow resting on a leg. "I still don't understand -why- you pursue such a silly little mundane girl." Akako sulked.  
  
"Ahhh..." He smiled, once again walking the fine edge of mockery and mirth. "But to me, she's not just some 'silly little mundane girl'. She's Aoko. My best friend."  
  
"Are you?" Real interest now, not just stifled amusement. "Even now? After she's discovered who you really are?"  
  
"Hmm..." He made a thoughtful sound, his eyes steady on the patch of green where Aoko was, still keeping a protective eye on her. "I am, anyway. Even if she decides to turn me over to her father, she's still my best friend."  
  
The eyebrow rose again. "I still don't get it."  
  
"Most people don't. When they look at her, they just see this wild haired girl with a bit of a temper and a mop. But when I see her..." He half smiled, an involuntary fond expression spreading across his face.   
  
"I see Aoko, the person who helped me get thru my father's death, even as it brought back memories of her mother's... " He paused for a second, then continued "I see the person who never stops caring, or chasing, or fails to bring a smile to my face. I see Aoko. -My- Aoko."  
  
He said the last part with such determination it seemed to startle even himself.  
  
Akako raised an eyebrow, and he chuckled a bit self-consciously. "I don't know what it is." He admitted, a bit of Kaito peeking out of the Kid. "She just lights me up, y'know? Like a fire that if you touch it, you'll burn."  
  
"Hmm..." The dark sorceress made a soft sound, more of a hum than her usual purr. "Yes." She finally nodded. "But if she does share her fire with you, doesn't the light of 2 flames combined shine brighter than each flame separately?"  
  
The thief shot her a startled look, before relaxing into a smile that spoke volumes. "Yeah."  
  
She smiled, leaning slightly to rest her head against his shoulder. They were silently for a minute, then Akako whispered, almost sadly: "She may still betray you, farther down the road."  
  
"I know." His voice was equally soft.  
  
"You always have been a gambler, haven't you?"  
  
"Hmmm." He smiled affectionately.  
  
They fell silent after that, watching the moon set together as they kept a watchful eye on their troubled friend below.   
  
Because that's what friends did.  
  
-fin- 


	2. The Kid is Caught

Note: This could take place before the previous 'Morose', or could not be related at all. Your call. They're being posted in the order they were written.  
  
Morose #2:  
The Kid is Caught.  
  
By Icka! M. Chif  
  
"Kaito is..." Aoko gripped Hakuba's sleeve, drawing his attention from the white shadow that the police force was escorting into a police car even as her wide eyes never strayed from it. "Hakuba-kun, Kaito is..."  
  
Hakuba, completely un-ruffled by the turn of events, nodded. "Yes."  
  
"But.. but... " She stammered, unable to find the words even as tears began to well up in her eyes. "He CAN'T be! Kaito can't BE the Kid!"  
  
"He is."  
  
"No!" She turned towards him, unmindful of the few tears that flew. "He can't be! Not Kaito!"  
  
He rested his hands on her shoulders. "You know." It wasn't a question, just a simple statement of fact.  
  
"No." Her lips and mind denied even as her mind did a traitorous hiss of 'Yes'. There was no one else who could have been the Kid other than Kaito. No one else was talented or special enough.  
  
"You're angry." Another statement from the stoic boy.   
  
She shook her head, trying to deny it as well. She was shocked, she terrified she was- "Yes."  
  
"Then tell him." He gave her a small push towards the de-masked Phantom Thief, releasing her. "He needs to know."  
  
Aoko wiped at her eyes. "But-"  
  
He motioned with his head towards the other boy's direction, his eyes shut. He had known too, that Kaito was the Kid. It was hurting him too, the fact that his rival and possible friend had been taken down. But he couldn't show it. "I'll explain it to him." He promised.  
  
Her tether snapped and she turned towards her long time friend. "YOU JERK!" She roared, even as tears flowed freely down her cheeks, bringing the thief to a halt. At the top of her lungs, she called him every vile, foul, descriptive and lewd name she could think from. Everything she had picked up from her father, to the station, from people on the streets and everywhere else. And when she ran out of names to call him, she began to make them up as she went along using everything from anatomical functions to postural impossibilities to toilet plungers.  
  
Everyone paused to stare at the abrupt outburst from the petite wild haired girl. From the camera crews filming this monumental occasion to the by-standers watching to the police officers who were guarding the Kid, they all turned to stare at her sudden outpouring of emotion.  
  
And through it all, Kaito's eyes never left hers, his violet eyes, more familiar to her than her own, wide and deer-like even as his the rest of his face betrayed. They shifted, the surprise vanishing into awe, to finally be replaced with a grateful fond look that was tinged with amusement.   
  
Her voice cracked, becoming hoarse as she wound down, finishing off by kicking dirt in his general direction with a particularly foul epitaph. Silence reigned in the street except for her harsh breathing and the blood rushing in her ears, the air still.  
  
Kaito nodded to her, a shallow bow, before climbing into the back of car. Time resumed again, he shooting her one last grateful look before the vehicle took off.   
  
An arm wrapped around her shoulders, the solid presence of Hakuba a comforting presence at her side. She leaned against him, hiccupping even as the tears continue to flow un-abated down her cheers, one hand reaching up to tangle her fingers in his jacket. "Thank you." He whispered, soft regret and gratitude colouring his voice and she knew he was speaking for both himself and Kaito.   
  
She shook her head, sniffing. "Why?" She asked, her voice already rough and scratchy from the shouting. Why were they both so grateful to her?  
  
"He needed to know." He explained softly, his voice low and soft. "He needed to know you cared. And he needed to know that you'd be okay. And they-" He motioned to the photographers that were still snapping pictures "-needed to know that you weren't involved."  
  
"Okay?" How was she going to be okay after this? Her best friend, Kaito, gone just like that. Left with fragile memories and illusive lies. A large part of her life ripped away even as her heart cracked and broke.  
  
"Okay." He ran a hand through her hair, gentle and comforting. "He needed to know that... you'd move on. You'd continue to live your life, even if he'd hurt you. He never meant to, you know."  
  
She nodded. Just as she'd never meant to hurt him either, with all her comments about the Kid. Hakuba pulled out his handkerchief, wiping off some of the tears running down her cheeks before handing it to her. "You'll be okay." Once more, it was a statement of fact instead of a question.   
  
Aoko paused, then took the offered piece of fabric. "Yeah." It would hurt, but she could pick herself up from this and keep moving. She'd be okay.  
  
And she'd beat the living snot out of him with her mop as soon as she got her hands on him.  
  
-fin-  
  
Okay, if you think I have ANY clue about what was going on here, boy have you got another thing coming!   
  
This is loosely based off a beautiful Japanese fan art of sad Hakuba holding a crying Aoko, both of them looking at something off screen. 


	3. A Question

This could take place after the previous 2 'Morose', or it could be a seprate scene entirely. Your call.  
  
Morose # 3  
The question  
  
By Icka! M. Chif  
  
Hakuba stepped up softly behind Akako, who was looking out over the cityscape with a morose expression on her face. "He did it, didn't he?" The words were soft, the gentle breeze easily bearing them away as if they'd never been said.  
  
Akako heard them anyway, and closed her eyes, nodding.  
  
He sighed, taking the last few steps that would move him to stand next to her. "And she said?"  
  
"Yes." Akako's voice was thick with un-shed tears. She couldn't cry of course. To do so would be to diminish her power, and to admit that the thief meant more to her than just the thrill of the chase.   
  
"I see." He looked out over the sparkling city that spread out below the hill they were standing on. "She knows that he's-"  
  
"Yes."  
  
The detective blinked, looking slightly afronted. "She knows and she still said 'yes'!?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
They fell silent, watching the lights shift below like molten fire through the night sky.  
  
"You care for her too." Akako finally commented, her voice clearer now, not as likely to break. "Why didn't you ask her first?"  
  
He let out a dry chuckle, almost devoid if humour as he reached into a pocket and pull out a small black velvet box. "I did." Opening the box, he reached inside and pulled out a small gold ring, the city lights catching the small clear stone that was perched on top and making it glow. "She turned me down."  
  
There was no hurt in his voice, just a vaguely ironic tone.  
  
"She really loves him, doesn't she?" Akako murmured.  
  
"Yes." Hakuba agreed, returning the ring to its box and slipping it back into his pocket. There was a wisdom in his expression, of knowledge hard won. "Yes she does. And he loves her too."  
  
"I know." The admission was soft, almost sad.  
  
He nodded, making a thoughtful sound.  
  
They stood in silence again, this one more companionable than the first.  
  
"What will you do now?" He asked, more curious than concerned.  
  
Akako shrugged her shoulders, using the rolling motion to straighten them and hold her head up high again. "Go home. Scream. Possibly throw things around. Remind myself not to hex either one of them."  
  
"Probably a wise idea." He agreed, a faint smile curving a corner of his mouth. The magician had the strangest luck, any curses would probably find some way of returning to their owner.   
  
"You?" She asked, in much the same air he had.  
  
He shrugged in response as well, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Brood most likely. Maybe mope around a while. Then offer my services to Kuroba as a best man, should he need one."  
  
Akako's eyebrow rose. "You're a strange man, you know that?"  
  
He shrugged again. "Fair play and all that. The best man won, I suppose."  
  
"Huh." She snorted. "Next you'll be saying that we should be happy for them."  
  
"Are you?"   
  
"No."  
  
Hakuba chuckled with the first real humour in his voice all night. "At least we're honest."  
  
-fin- 


End file.
